Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Great War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Great War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
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211188
Pte. John Alexander Spence Clint
British Army 9th Btn Highland Light Infantry
from:Glasgow
My father, John Alexander Spence Clint, first served in WWI with the Glasgow 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry (he referred to it as the Boozy Fourth!). At some point, he was sent back from France to a hospital in Bradford, W Yorkshire, to be patched up, but whether wounded or suffering from "shell shock" is undetermined.
He was then sent back to France to serve with the Labour Corps 12-12-1915. He was discharged 31-10-1918. He received a small pension, but though up until he died at the age of 60 and his hands shook so that he could not hold a cup of tea without spilling it, he was considered by the pensions board to be a "malingerer," with the threat of his pension being reduced or cut off.
Between 1918 and 1943 he did not have steady employment, until he got a job as an engine slinger during WWII, at which he worked until his death in 1952.
My father was a quiet, gentle soul, and I can just imagine how his experiences in WWI, trench warfare, shell bombardment, etc., must have played havoc on his mental/emotional well-being.
Go to Google and read how over 300 soldiers were shot, though most were likely suffering from shell-shock and the hazards of warfar were just too much for them. I think we have come a long way in understanding post traumatic stress as it is referred to nowadays.